Dynasty Warriors: Clash of the Empires
by Vindicare Alpha
Summary: Home is a peacful place... untill strangers show up. Chapter two up. Sorry about the wait people
1. Chapter 1

I don't own Dynasty Warriors, or any of those characters… but man, if I did I'd have a hell of a good time! However, the narrator is my brainchild. You may ask to use him… I suppose, although I don't really expect it.

So here it is.

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Dynasty Warriors: Clash of the Empires

Chapter one: Camping

Armor and chain mail jangled quietly as the 'war council' met in the tent. Strong winds whipped the tent flaps around and brought snow in underneath the sides. The tent its self was dim, lit by a small dish of coals suspended above the map table, and the pieces representing units of the army were set off to a side. "Now, lord Sun Jian, Sun Ce, we are here, at this end of the mountain pass, correct?"

"Yeah, what's your point?"

"Patience, my son," Sun Jian said softly. I arched my brows as I pushed pieces around forming a 'Y'. "These parts here," I said pointing to the upper ends of the formation, "would be scouting teams, infantry units can be spread in teams of ten from those scouts to the main camp, which would be here, at the center point. The tail formation comes from more troops in teams of twenty, another scouting unit, and perhaps mounted soldiers if it please you?"

Sun Jian exhaled loudly and slowly through his nostrils. "Perhaps." he muttered something to his son, and then took a unit tally sheet off of the table. Sun Ce turned and left the tent. "Well," Sun Juan sighed, "it seems your plan may work out to catch any remaining units as we march back to the castle… hmm… yes. Well, I'll leave you to set it up-"

"Sir, that isn't a good idea."

"Why is that? Do you think that the soldiers will still not listen to you because they assume the only thing that bonds you is your paycheck?"

"That and the fact that they disdain me due to skin tone differences."

"Oh really? Remind me of your story before you came to me for hire."

"I was fathered by a roman centurion on some Chinese woman roughly twenty years ago. I grew bored with my pitiful lot, and sailed east, working for those people. They taught me various forms of combat, sailing, horse riding, and military tactics. I sailed back here, and went home for a year. I then heard about the call to arms against the 'way of peace'. so, I helped the empire, and you saw fit to out pay Liu Bei and Cao Cao in my wages. And here we are a few years later. You had hired me as a personal bodyguard, but apparently I'm worth more than that. Now, if you will excuse me, we have a long journey ahead of us," I said as I stepped past him into the open air. I walked a roundabout path to my tent, which took me past the guard's fires where they slept on the ground.

My armor wasn't the quietest thing ever, and several of the guards leaned up to glare at me. I continued past some minor officer tents. Lu Xun was reading another book in front of his tent, and I nodded at him. A few tents down, Zhou Tai was cleaning his rather bloody sword, which he looked up from and grinned. "Good work," he told me in his rather gravely voice.

"Helluva fight," I acknowledged. I continued my trek around the camp, passing the horse paddocks, and finally reaching the tents of the Sun family and my own. I noticed young Sun Shang Xiang standing by the fire and rubbing her stomach absentmindedly. I raised an eyebrow at her, then nodded before stepping into my own tent to sleep.

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I slept little that night, and what I did get was very fitful, plagued by dreams from the battle two days ago. Juggernauts and arbalest units taking out any soldiers that attempted to get by them. And never, never in my days would I forget the land mines. Five men had charged through the narrow pathway, and were gifted with a mighty blast from underfoot, incinerating the man who stepped on it, and removing more than half of the bodies of the men surrounding him. Blood and entrails splattered in every direction, still smoking in the cold morning air as they hit mine and my bodyguards feet.. Screams filled the air, but were silenced quickly by my sword, we weren't able to risk our location being disclosed.

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I emerged from my tent to the warming light of dawn. The fire that had burned so bright last night was reduced to a few coals with a kettle of wash water resting lightly atop them. I stretched and added another log to the fire. I scanned the horizon, searching for any sign of a threat, but only found my bodyguards doing the same. I turned and looked through the camp. The only other person up was Sun Shang Xiang. She noticed me standing by the fire and came over to greet me. As this was not her normal routine, I wondered if something was amiss, and said as much. "I don't know, I just feel very odd this morning." I shrugged at her response.

"Would you like something to eat, lady?" she thought about it for a moment, then leaned over and nearly wretched. When she sat upright again, she looked ill and stated "I don't think I can stomach anything just now." I nodded again and went on with my cooking. I stooped back in my tent with and returned with a bottle of watermelon wine. I opened and extended the bottle to her, but she pushed it away. I shrugged again and took a long pull from the container. I had always had a good head for spirits. Again I stooped back in my tent, and came back out with a small piece of beef, a smaller sack of rice and dropped them into the boiling water. I paced over to the wooded area in search of anything that could do for a seasoning, but in the end returned to my tent again and pulled out what little I had left. I stirred the contents of the pot, tossed in my seasoning, and paced off again. Taking my round about path again, I passed the other officers cooking morning meals. All except for Gan Ning. As I passed his tent, a younger lady guard for Sun Shang Xiang came running out, hoping to not be seen in her minimal garb.

I continued on my pathway, passing those who I saw last night. Lu Xun was still reading his book and I asked him "Did you even move last night?" He looked up and grinned at me. I noticed he wasn't cooking and asked him if he wanted to eat anything. "No, not now thank you. I have some apples and jerky in my pack, I'll eat those on the ride back."

I continued back to my tent and cook fire, avoiding the soldiers on the route back. When I arrived, the smell of beef and spicing was stronger than I expected and hardly covered the underlying scent of vomit. Looking over at Sun Shang Xiang, she seemed even worse for wear. When she tried to smile at me, I knew something was wrong, and I spoke up. "I can't tell. I've never felt like this after a battle." I raised an eyebrow. "Cheng Du was a rather large battle."

"Yes, it was."

"Maybe… when I was in the east, I heard about something called combat sickness. You suffer from nausea, and the smell or thought of food can make you wretch."

"Really?" I nodded in response.

"They said that the only cure was time. Roughly an hour to a day." She looked up at me quickly, then back down at the ground. Sun Jian finally emerged from his tent and called over one of the messengers. "Go around and tell all the men it is time to strike camp and move onward."

"Yes, sir," he said quickly and hustled off.

The striking of camp took about an hour to have all men mounted or carrying their packs, and all the fires doused or stamped out.

Then began the long ride home.

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A/N: So, what do you think? Please review, but keep the flames to a minimum, I beg of you.

Next chapter should be out in a week or two for those who wish to follow the story.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: See Ch 1 for the disclaimer

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Dynasty Warriors: Clash of the Empires 

Chapter 2: Homecoming

I endured a relatively long ride home to the castle. Three days I was astride my horse. Three nights I slept restlessly in my tent, and three days I watched over the Sun family. Over all, the journey was dull, and not much had happened. I had become more acquainted with some of the other officers during the travels. For the morning hours, my time was spent in the company of Zhou Tai, Lu Xun, and Da Qiao, the latter of which were sharing a horse. In the afternoons, I would either talk with Sun Ce, and try to win his trust, or would calmly speak of strategy with Zhou Yu and Sun Jian, both of which were far more than competent in destroying the scenarios I had painstakingly set for them.

I had paid minimal attention to Sun Shang Xiang, I would either pass by and give her an acknowledging nod, or pass her and completely ignore her, and the latter of which would cause her cheeks to tint slightly lighter, In anger or embarrassment, I knew not which.

Ahh, the mind of women… a difficult thing to grasp.

True, she was a woman, and perhaps most men would have enjoyed her company, if they were given the honor. But not I. From an early age, I was originally interested in females. But, after suffering losses more than ten times to young girls who knew nothing of my existence, I decided to give up on the game called love. When hearing of my 'abnormality', most men would raise their brows at me and ask if I was practicing foreign ways, and to this, I would get angered, and continually tell them that I have no interest, or time for any form of love. So, throughout my life I was alone, regarded as odd, or even vile. When in the east, I had attempted to find someone to spar against, and they would all turn me aside. Then, after roughly a year, I was tuned aside again, but I would not take 'no' as an answer this time. I swung my bamboo rod out and smacked the man's skull, to hear a satisfying crack, and watch him fall into his own pooling blood.

Only an animal would hit a man when he was down. I planted my boot sharply into his ribcage twice, and slammed my heel down on top of his chest. I walked around him, kicked him in the groin, and heard him wheeze. I kicked him twice in his other side, and brought my boot about to make contact with his skull, again hearing a satisfying crack. I lifted my leg up above his throat, and brought it down swiftly again, tearing his life from his mangled body.

"- some beautiful armor, Tiberius, where did you get it?" Zhou Tai's words jolted me back to the present.

"Um… I got it when I was in the east, learning to fight… I take it that's where you got your sword?"

"Indeed, it was. What of your sword?"

"Apparently, this blade was some of my fathers war loot, which he left with my mother, so I do not know where it came from. She said he called it a sword of the Keltoi… whom ever they were."

The remaining time of my day was spent in silence, as we neared home.

Our arrival at the palace was not a quiet one. The peasants all came forth to thank us or greet us in some way, and when we finally went inside, there was a great party in our honor. Indeed it lasted some time. I spent some of it conferring with Zhou Yu about fortifications that could help improve the castle, and what strategic points in the castle we could keep weaponry. I had spent time talking with, or more listening in on, an anxious Lu Xun and Da Qiao. They were sipping from the same glass of wine, which I thought odd, even for a married couple, but thought nothing else of it. Eventually, they went from the great hall, most likely to their chambers, but again I thought nothing of it. I had been busy watching Sun Shang Xiang not eat and not drink. I approached her on the matter, and without preamble asked her when she had last eaten.

"I think it was in the middle of Cheng Du." I rolled my eyes, grabbed a small piece of meat and held it out to her. "I'm not going to leave you alone until you eat this." She looked at the food, and turned away shuddering. "I don't think I can eat anything at all."

"Fine, I'll get you some soup then," I said as I walked off to the kitchens. I did manage to find some soup from a night ago, which was easily heated and watered down at the edge of the large hearth. I filled two trenchers with the stuff and brought it out to her, thrusting the first into her hands and setting the second on the table next to her. She looked at me through the steam from the bowl. "You're very stubborn, aren't you?"

"Get over it. Now eat that." She rolled her eyes and leaned against the table. Slowly, so slowly, she lifted the bowl to her lips and drank in some. No sooner than it seemed down did it come back up with a wet splatter against my face and chest. I frowned disgustedly as Sun Shang Xiang giggled a little and the apologized. Wiping off my face, I told her to take some more, and she did. Thankfully, it stayed down this time and I nodded at her to have some more.

She took longer than I had hoped to consume the first bowl, but the second made a quicker journey. Already I could see color returning to her cheeks that had not been there for days. She looked at me skeptically and asked why I was staring. "You already look better," I replied with a weak smile. Xiang turned and walked to the stair well, turned and bid me a good night from there and ventured up to her room. I knew it was only one flight up and that she wouldn't get much sleep until the reveling died down. Zhou Yu came and looked at me for a time. I had been staring after Shang absent mindedly, and turning to see Zhou Yu right next to me made me jump. "What?"

"Just musing. What did you do?"

"What do you mean what did I do?"

"I have tried to make her eat, but she wouldn't keep anything down. How did you accomplish what I could not?"

"Oh. Watered down soup leftover from the remaining servants dinner last night."

The party went on, but after politely disengaging with Zhou Yu, and skillfully evading a nervous Sun Jian, who's question I'm sure had to do with his daughters health, I sought my own bed, and slept the deep comforting sleep of exhaustion.

"Hey! Tiberius!" Lu Xun called to me from across the room in the little Latin I was able to teach him. I waved him over to sit by me and asked him what he wanted. "I was told by some of the 'guys' to ask you if you wanted to come along with us on the boats."

"I see. Who are these 'guys'?"

"Myself, Gan Ning, Lu Meng, and Zhou Tai, who might come with us."

"What about your woman? Won't she look askance on this?"

"Right… about her… umm… how to you tell if a woman is pregnant?"

"I don't know. Do I even look like I care?"

"Not particularly," he muttered as he took off his hat and threw it in front of me. It was full of money.

"Sorry kid, I can't help you. Why don't you go read about it?"

"I've tried, and we don't have any books about it."

"Too bad for you."

"…"

"You're so immature. Wait. Wait some more, then try again."

"How long?"

"As long as it damn well takes, boy. I'll see you on the ship. Someone needs to watch you kids."

"Cool. See you there." I grunted in response.

As he left, Shang Xiang came over and sat next to me. She merely sat, not saying, or eating anything. I was about to leave when she grabbed me by my forearm.

"What now?"

"Are you going to do anything with that money?" I looked at her.

"Yeah, I'm gonna give it back. Boy needs to learn money isn't always what it takes to learn something." Something in my voice removed something from Xiang's expression, and she looked aside.

"What," I asked sharper than I intended.

"Nothing. Nothing at all." she stood and left.

I walked up the two flights of stairs to my room and changed into some more respectable clothes than what I wore to breakfast. Or, I at least tried. Most of my clothes still had signs of battle on them. All but one of my favored shirts and the loosest pair of leggings I owned. I opened my door and pulled a serving boy inside. Pointing at the messy clothes I said "I'm going to spend time with Lu Xun today, have these cleaned when I return, and you'll get a reward."

I looked around for my bowl of wash water, which was already cooling, added some of my scenting herbs to it, and began washing last night from my face. I washed my hair, and tied it back so it hung down between my shoulder blades. I scrubbed at my nails, hands and chest before I was satisfied I was sufficiently clean. I took a small portion of my apple vinegar stores and swished it around in my mouth, spat it out, and pulled on my clean clothes. My heavy boots were still slightly grimy, but pulled them on anyway. Leather looks better with dirt.

I stepped out of my chambers and into the chest of Sun Ce, who was standing foolishly close to my door. "My father wants to talk with you, merc," he said as if offended that I ran into him. Apparently he stood there longer expecting an apology of some kind, but I had already turned and set off down the stairs to Sun Jian's cambers. I knew well the layout of this floor, but had no reason to use the knowledge. Jian's chambers were at the very end of the hall, with his children's on either side. The boys were on my right, and Shang Xiang's rooms were on my left. It was most likely my poor luck that made Xiang step out of her rooms as I was about to knock on her fathers door. "What are you doing down here?"

"Your father has summoned me," I told her frankly as I began to knock on the door. Hearing Sun Jian respond, I let myself into his chambers to see Lu Xun and his friends holding an easterner at blade point.

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A/N: Sorry it took so long guys. I'll try to have the next one up in a jiffy, summer is here so I have lots of free time... Later. 


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